High-octane right from the very start, Talk ‘N Text exploded for 76 first-half points and coasted to an emphatic 145-116 win over Air21 Sunday night, claiming the best record and perhaps the highest of spirits going into the semifinal round of the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
The ball club that spent the past couple of days wondering why it struggled in its last two games finally rediscovered the form it was feared to have, stunning the enemy with an avalanche of baskets in the opening two quarters alone in a game where defense hardly mattered and one that truly reflected the battle between the best and the worst teams in the tournament.
The Tropang Texters, seeking to become the first franchise in 15 years to complete a sweep of all three conferences in a single season, notched their sixth win as against a pair of setbacks, a victory that buried the stigma of their 101-96 defeat to Petron on July 9 and the fortunate 93-91 win against Meralco four days after.
The back-to-back champion now heads into the single-round, carryover semifinals as the team to beat, and its coach, Chot Reyes, fully realizes the risk that comes with it.
“We’re sure the other teams are going to come out hard at us,” said Reyes, who has led the Texters at No. 1 after the eliminations for the fourth straight tournament. “We need to make sure that we are always on top of our game.” So focused and serious was Talk ‘N Text that the 76 it scored in the first half was the highest in six conferences. The Texters were the last ones who were able to scatter that much output in the first half on March 22, 2009, but that game against Barako Bull ended in a disappointing note after the Bulls rallied from a 25-point deficit in the fourth quarter to win it, 135-133.
It was also the highest scoring outing in four years, or since Ginebra outclassed sister-team San Miguel Beer, 146-111, in Game Four of the Philippine Cup championship series.
Seven players had double-digit outputs for Talk ‘N Text. Mark Yee came off the bench to lead the way with 20 points, getting cheered by his teammates and by the crowd after he converted on an acrobatic lay-up in the fourth quarter to give the Texters at 133-99 lead. Talk ‘N Text led largest by 36 (137-101).
Ryan Reyes, who scored eight of Talk ‘N Text’s first 15 points for the early momentum, finished with 19 points while Ali Peek had 18. Kelly Williams, Ranidel De Ocampo and Larry Fonacier each contributed 14, while import Maurice Baker scored 10.
Yet for all the firepower of Talk ‘N Text, a nagging question remains that has to be addressed in the next few days.
The Texters have brought in a standby reinforcement in Scottie Reynolds, a veteran of the NBA D-League who was a popular figure while playing college ball for Villanova. Reynolds saw action in Italy with Prima Veroli but for only four games and normed 12.3 points before seeing action for 46 matches with Springfield Armor in the NBA D-League averaging 13.1 points and 5.9 assists.
With its eighth straight loss, Air21 became the first team in 12 years to finish a winless conference. The last time a franchise failed to register a victory was Pop Cola during the 1999 Governors’ Cup. Counting the sweep the Express suffered against the very same team in the semifinals of the Commissioner’s Cup, they have set a record but for the wrong reason – a franchise worst.
In the lone game Saturday night, Jason Forte collected a double-double of 24 points and 20 rebounds, and came through with the crucial decisive stop late in the game as Alaska outlasted Ginebra, 83-79.
Forte defended Ginebra’s new import Donald Sloan in a potential game-tying play for the Kings, and succeeded in forcing Sloan to launch a difficult shot inside the shaded lane. After that brilliant defense, Forte was fouled after recovering the loose ball and converted both charities for the final count as the Aces picked up their fifth win in eight games.
“I just tried to do what I do, bring effort the best I can do,” said Forte. “We should have had a better record if not for that sorry loss to Petron. But 5-3 is good enough. We have a good team which can really have a good run,” said Forte.
LA Tenorio was the only other Alaska player who scored in double figures with 15.
Yet, the absence of a scorer was hardly needed in a game that was fought and won on the defensive end.
Ginebra, which still has a game left against Rain or Shine on Wednesday in the eliminations, dropped to 4-3.
Sloan wound up with 21 points – 19 coming in the second half – while Ronald Tubid added 14 for the Kings, who dropped behind by as many as 50-35 at the half.
